About random issues, yeah, I understand the money factor. But by now we all know how they are published, and anyway since at least 1961 superhero comics are better when inserted in their proper context. A random issue of Lee-Kirby's Thor, or Simonson's Thor may be as impenetrable to a civilian as last issue.

Which brings us to working hard for our entertainment. I can think of a few scenarios in which one didn't have to work hard to enter this world, but I sure did. I didn't even know who the X-Men were before I started reading Marvel comics. Didn't know their names, their powers, anything! No cartoons, no movies, no internet, and figuring it all out was part of the fun. Most of us recognize that aspect right here when we criticize all those reboots. It's not too hard, because it's comics, even if sometimes we get it wrong (I once wondered if Wolverine was also a telepath because he knew what a Hellfire Club guard was thinking).

And Thor as a woman is the kind of information that is provided by the cover, just accept it. What may bother people is how a woman became Thor, who are all those supporting characters and what are the relationships between everybody. Exactly the kind of stuff any new reader ever had to figure out.

I'm not defending new comics and, yes, a lot of this stuff sounds stupid to me (without reading them). But that's in part because I have read all this before. I just hope that, for a new reader, the current stuff is as magical and exciting as the old stuff was to me 25 years ago. I can imagine how the stuff I loved back then might have looked stupid to people who stopped reading comics in the sixties.

 

I think one difference I've noticed is the recaps/boxes in classic issues, i.e. if Man-Bat showed up in a classic comic, there'd be a box/description about Langstrom, the serum, his change, etc. And in my head, it'd be a, 'Okay, got it.'

Now, characters show up and I have no clue. Not always, mind. Picked up a Harley Quinn comic recently, the one where she led a team. There was a box/intro for the six members of her team. That helped. And it's all I wanted.

One difference here is that the older characters aren't necessarily being retired as the new versions are rolled out. And it makes sense that a more diverse audience for comics would get a more diverse cast of characters for the reboots.  Why introduce a carbon copy of Hal Jordan when you're rolling out a new Green Lantern for Earth?  Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams knew that 45 years ago.  And Denny O'Neil knew that 30-something years ago when he brought in James Rhodes as the new Iron Man.  There are fewer original model Marvel characters on the stands right now than usual, but we've got about 60 years' worth of precedent for shaking up the status quo from time to time.

Stephen Churay wrote:  What I see, is Marvel scrambling to get  new characters popular before the actors'  contracts expire after the two part  Avengers: Infinity War films end. Either  that or you have a small group of over  zealous SJW's running the show over there.

 

When someone pulls out the "SJW" trope I tend to think they've lost any point they were trying  to make. 

Marvel Studio's is pretty much it's own thing. Outside of mining the comics IP they don't care what the publishing arm or the TV arm does. They've become the dog and comics are the tail. They don't seem interested in making movies with Jane Thor, Falcon America or Riri Iron Man. They'll probably recast before they go that route. 

Super Hero comics weren't quite dead in that time

Captain Comet first appeared in Strange Adventure #9, 1951

The Martian Manhunter's first appearance was in Detective Comics #225, 1955. 

Marvel Boy's  first appearance is Marvel Boy #1 1950

I think they were trying reinvent Super-Heroes using the popular SF framework of the time  Which also influenced the approach in the Silver Age. 

There were only five years between the GA Flash's last appearance (All-Star Comics #57,1951) and the first appearance of the SA Flash (Showcase # 4. 1956)